On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
> I did a paper on "hackers" for a Computer Sociology class a few years ago.
> In my research, I came across some really interesting articles that, even
> in 1984 (when they were written), were arguing what the real definition of
> "hacker" is. They described the early MIT "hackers", many of whom became
> so wrapped up in their projects that they never bothered to fulfill their
> degree requirements. And those who were breaking into sophisticated,
> secure systems for the pure joy and challenge. And those committing all
> kinds of crimes with their particularly malicious kind of genius. So
> people didn't really know what a hacker was 15 years ago either.
Well, I give priority to first use, which goes to the MIT Hackers. All
that adopted the term subsequently are just posers.
> There's been a lot of PC-thug pressure to make "hacker" into some kind of
> superhero working for the good of society and the pure love of computing
> and make "cracker" into some kind of maniac bent on the senseless
> destruction of innocent computers everywhere. Then the issue is clouded
> further by other terms like script-kiddies, cypherpunks, etc.
I think this comes out of the offense taken by those whom consider
themselves hackers in the real and original sense. I guess they have a
point. But those in the know will always be able to differentiate between
a hacker and some other loser.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar_at_siconic.com
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Received on Wed Aug 04 1999 - 21:03:40 BST